Object of the Month: May 2025

Garden in Spring, 1940 by Charles Ginner (1878-1952)

Oil painting on canvas

Purchased from Reid and Lefevre Ltd, 1944.

Chosen by: Claire Cooper, Documentation Officer

This painting has long been a favourite of mine, with its depiction of colourful crocuses beneath bare trees in a garden setting. It’s almost like a woodland, but there is a house just visible through the trees on the left.

The artist, Charles Ginner, was born in 1878 in France to English parents and studied art on the continent before moving to London in 1910. He was closely associated with Spencer Gore and Harold Gilman, and like them was a member of the Camden Town Group.

He served in both World Wars, and was an 'Official War Artist' during the Second World War, specialising in depicting harbour scenes and bombed buildings in London. This painting, Garden in Spring, was created during this time, and might have been a welcome change for him.

The Object of the Month can be seen in person throughout May at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery.